Para Mi Princesa
by heartofawriter28
Summary: Hiram and Veronica spend the afternoon together one day while Hermione is out.


It was an overcast Saturday in Manhattan, New York, and five year old Veronica Lodge was growing more and more bored with every passing second. She'd woken up a little earlier than usual and wandered out into the living room of the Lodge family's penthouse only to find her father already absorbed in work in his home office and her mother nowhere to be seen.

"Daddy?" she stood in the doorway of Hiram's office, rubbing her eyes. He looked up from his work, setting his pen down and leaning back in his desk chair.

"Good morning, princesa." She yawned, walking into the office and around the desk to climb up into his lap. He helped her, kissing her head as she got settled. Veronica cuddled into his chest happily as he gently wrapped his arms around her little frame.

"Where's mommy?" she asked curiously.

"She had to go out for the day, so I'm working from home." he told her. She sighed dramatically.

"Do you _have_ to work today, daddy?"

"You know I do, Ronnie, but just for a little while, alright? Then we can do whatever you want. Just me and you." She had nodded and hopped down from his lap, quickly eating her breakfast and then wandering into her bedroom to play with her various toys so he could work. And while it had only been a few hours in reality, it seemed like an entire lifetime to the young girl.

She sighed for the fifth time in as many minutes, carefully placing her favorite doll back into its place on her shelf when the family's butler called her for lunch. Her mood brightened the slightest bit when she saw Hiram sitting at the dining table, an indication that he had finished his work, or at least come to a place deemed far enough to stop for the day. It brightened even further when her father smiled at her.

"Are you done working, daddy?" she asked hopefully as she climbed into the chair next to him.

"I am." he nodded, leaning over to kiss her forehead as the butler brought out various platters of food. "I'm all yours for the rest of the day." She squealed excitedly, practically bouncing in her seat as Hiram chuckled quietly at her enthusiasm.

"Can we play with mommy's makeup? Pleeeeease?" she begged. Hermione often spent time teaching Veronica how to do makeup, and although she still hadn't quite picked it up yet, the girl _loved_ practicing on any willing participant. Of course, Hiram was reluctant to agree to _anything_ involving the word "makeup", but as he looked into his daughter's bright and hopeful eyes, he knew he couldn't say no.

"Por supuesto que podemos, princesa." he nodded, eliciting another excited squeal from the five year old.

"Yay!" she happily ate her lunch, talking a mile a minute about how much fun they were going to have. And as he listened to her, Hiram mused that if playing with makeup was the price for seeing his little girl as happy as she was in that moment, he would gladly do it every day for the rest of his life.

The two quickly finished eating, and as soon as the butler came to take the trays away, Veronica was out of her seat and clinging to her father's hand, trying to pull him up.

"Come on, come on, come onnnn!" she squealed, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. He chuckled at her, letting her pull him up and towards the bedroom he shared with Hermione. Her vanity was covered in various beauty products, as was the bathroom counter, which he could just barely glimpse through the cracked door of the ensuite bathroom.

"Alright, princesa." he looked at the abundance of makeup his wife owned as he sat down in front of the vanity while Veronica climbed onto her own stool that Hermione had gotten her. "What are we doing with mommy's makeup?" She giggled excitedly, picking up a large makeup brush and a container of some kind of powder he didn't bother trying to identify out of the at least eighteen others littering the surface of his wife's vanity.

"You'll see!" Veronica told him, opening the container and dipping the brush into the powder before raising it to his face. He sat still, listening to her talking about anything and everything under the sun as she applied product after product to both of their faces. And yet, he found he really didn't mind letting her pile makeup onto his face, if only because of the bright smile and joyous giggles the action elicited from her. So, he sat patiently, throwing in comments among her chattering here and there until she finally declared herself done making over his face and hopped down from her stool before instructing him to stay put as she ran out of the room to retrieve something from her own.

It was only a brief few moments before she returned with two items in her hands. Of course, as the fates would have it, the sound of the front door opening and closing reverberated through the penthouse just moments after his daughter's return followed by Hermione's voice.

"Hiram?"

"Sounds like mommy's home." he told her, standing and lifting her into his arms so she could place one of the two plastic tiaras in her hands onto his head. "Shall we go and greet her?" Veronica nodded enthusiastically, giggling as she arranges her own tiara on top of her head.

"Yes!" she locked her arms around his neck, still giggling. He kissed her cheek, smiling as he carried her out to the foyer where Hermione had just arrived home and was standing with her back turned to them.

"Welcome home, mi amor." he kept his voice casual, patiently waiting for his wife to turn around. Her reaction was worth the wait when she finally did face them. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes widened when she saw them, and it was only a second later that a bright smile of her own broke out across her lips.

"Well now, what do we have here?" she asked, looking between the two.

"Daddy let me make him a princess!" Veronica squealed happily. They both had lipstick smeared across their faces, far too much blush caked onto their cheeks, and more eyeshadow than Hermione had even known could go on a person's eyelid spread across their eyes. But they also looked like they'd had a nice time together, and that was truly all that mattered to her.

"You both look _beautiful_." she pressed her lips together to suppress her laughter, looking at her husband, who smirked back at her before slipping an arm around her waist and yanking her forward to kiss her, effectively covering her mouth in lipstick as well.

"Hiram!" she laughed against his lips, kissing him back right as Veronica leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek, giggling at the lipstick stain she left. "Alright my princesses, what should we do until dinner, hm?"

"Princess movie!" Veronica yelled immediately. "Pleeeeease?" The adults exchanged a look, both smiling.

"Of course, mi princesa." Hiram answered her, moving his arm around Hermione's shoulders as they started to walk towards the living room. "Any princess movie you want."

After several minutes of careful contemplation, the three of them settled on the couch together to watch Beauty and the Beast, Hermione nestled against Hiram's side with his arm still around her shoulders and her legs pulled up beside her and Veronica settled comfortably in their laps. They made it about halfway through before dinner, and though they attempted to finish the movie afterwards, Veronica fell asleep before the credits rolled.

"Should we try and get it off of her now or just let it be?" Hermione whispered, walking behind her husband as he carefully carried their daughter into her bedroom.

"Just let it be. She's had an exciting day, she needs her rest." he whispered back, tucking Veronica into her bed and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, unconcerned about leaving lipstick stains considering how much of it had already come off. Hermione watched them from the doorframe, smiling softly before stealing a kiss from her husband when he joined her.

"I can't believe you actually let her turn you into a princess." she laughed softly as they slowly walked to their bedroom, hand in hand.

"Para mi princesa? Cualquier cosa."


End file.
